Oil tanker taken in first Somali hijacking in five years

Somali pirates have hijacked an oil tanker off the country’s coast, the first attack against a commercial vessel in five years. The ship belongs to a company based in the United Arab Emirates. It was traveling from Djibouti to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. All eight members of its crew are from Sri Lanka. The pirates approached the ship in two small skiffs. The captain managed to report the attack to his company before the pirates boarded the vessel. Piracy off Somalia’s coast has dropped dramatically since U.S. and European navies began patrolling the important shipping lanes. But as regional fisherman lose their livelihood to foreigners illegally fishing in Somali waters, experts warned the lure of piracy would return. Thanks to dropping oil prices, pirates have more recently focused on taking crew members for ransom, rather than capturing a tanker to steal its oil. A local elder said the men who orchestrated today’s hijacking had been searching for a suitable ship for days.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.